Calixto Alvarez

Calixto Alvarez was born in Alacranes, Cuba on Oct. 14 1932. He grew up in a large family of six siblings, three sisters and two brothers. Calixto was the wild child of the bunch and drove his Mother, Maria, crazy with worry. Calixto’s Father would be away at work in another town and would come home for weekend stays, so Calixto would behave on those days. All his friends were older than him, a few that were grown men. His Mom Maria tried very hard on keeping Calixto confined to the house. Calixto would sneak out of the house early in the morning without telling his Mom where he was going and wouldn’t return home until dark. At around the age 10 or so he told his parents that his name was “Caco”. Cubans have a thing for nick names and Calixto had an older friend in his late teens that went by that name. The name Caco is what they used to call thieves back then and that’s the name he liked. One time his Mom was so tired of fighting with him not to go out that she tied his wrists with a rope to an immovable object fastened to the wall! From a young age he was a charmer! Everyone he met instantly gravitated towards him, including the ladies, some older than he. Caco’s Dad, Jose, ran out of work in the neighboring town and came back home. Caco learned his trade from his Dad, who was a wood worker. Caco quit school at the age of 12 and went to work, sometimes with Jose, and sometimes by himself, in a different town. On January 5th, 1951 while he was working in a town he had never been to before is when Caco’s life would change forever. Caco was working at a school in disrepair and in need of a well since the old well had dried up. Caco went to the farm across the street with two pales for water. As Caco approached the front porch he stopped in his tracks and was stunned and awe struck by what he saw. What he saw on that day that made his jaw drop was his wife to be, Adolfina, sweeping the front porch. Theirs would be a long courtship and they married in January 1956.

In Oct 1957 Carlos was born. The revolution was in full swing and critics of Castro were being hunted and murdered. Caco had served in the Batista government as a motorcycle cop and was very out spoken of Castro. Caco had an acquaintance that belonged to a counter revolutionary group. The group would meet late at night in an abandoned warehouse. Caco wasn’t trusting of the meetings so he never attended any, but he did meet with the organizer who would fill him in on what the meeting was about. This particular meeting was about an arms shipment that was coming from Miami. Caco’s contact was to secure a carbine for Caco. Unfortunately, the group was raided and many of the counter revolutionaries were killed or imprisoned. Caco was a hunted man and it would only be a matter of time before they caught up to him. On Sept 6, 1962, Caco and his family, including his younger brother Humberto, his wife Fina 8-mos pregnant and his older brother Jose, got on a little boat and traversed the caribbean in search of freedom. After a terrifying 24 hours at sea, our tiny craft was spotted by Russian cargo ship, who radioed Cuba to have us sunk. An American submarine, the USS Barracuda had been tracking us and surfaced when the Russian ship radioed Cuba. Soon the USS Borie 704, a destroyer, was on the way to rescue us.

Caco lived in Miami for a year then came west and settled in Calif. Caco worked his entire life, rarely taking days off, and lived for his family. We were poor, however we had everything. Food on the table every night, clean clothes to go to school, a nice safe home full of family and love. After being settled a couple of years, Caco and Fina began on claiming family to leave the island. Many family members took the offer and after thousands of dollars and years of petitioning, they started to come. My grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. At one time or another we had family members living with us, being supported by Caco and Fina, sometimes for several months, until they found work and were stable enough to rent their own place. Caco was a very humble man with a heart of gold. He would extend his hand in friendship and help anyone in need. Caco was well liked by his work peers and supervisors and was well known as a problem fixer. He attacked his work with gusto, always whistling or humming an old Cuban song. Our Father always looked on the bright side of things and never took anything for granted, especially the privilege of becoming an American citizen. I remember them coming home one day very excited and claiming loudly as they walked thru the door, “We’re Americans now!” No sooner Caco received his citizenship he immediately joined the Army’s ready reserve, where he trained alongside regular Army and national guard at Los Alamitos California air base and other locales. Many times my Brother and I would spend the day at the shooting range where we would shoot for hours, listening to him tell his stories about Cuba and him as a young boy growing up. Caco was always happy to help someone out, doing side jobs on the weekends for very little pay. I would accompany him on side jobs and I would get angry because on occasion he would charge so little for his talent and workmanship. He would reply to me by saying “These guys are struggling to make ends meet, I’ve charged them what I feel was fair and they can afford”. One thing was for sure though, no matter how little he got paid he always paid me much more than he would keep for himself. And that is how he lived his life. He always gave more, much more than he received, he was actually uncomfortable recieving. Our Father, Calixto Alvarez, Caco, passed away on Jan. 29, 2018. He died in the same room as his beloved wife Fina five months earlier, just as he had requested. Caco was surrounded by family as he took his last breath and we said goodbye, hugged him and kissed him and told him how much we loved him and what a positive contribution he had made in so many peoples lives. Caco was a true hero to many. He was a true hero to us. Caco leaves behind survivors:
Sons Carlos and Jose and daughter Lilia
Grandchildren,
Nick Alvarez, Brianna Zuniga (Alvarez)
Jenna Alvarez
Jessica Alvarez
and great grandchildren, Piper, Penny, Mila and Finley Zuniga